Stuck in the Net
by cloverlover
Summary: Trapped in the net with two rabbits, Merlin and Arthur struggle to break free, but a scuffle between them causes Arthur to drop his sword. As the long night stretches out before them, they try to get comfortable instead. Set during S05E01.


Stuck In The Net

Trapped in the net with two rabbits, Merlin and Arthur struggled to break free from the net that was encompassing both of them, hanging from a tall branch several feet off the ground. Their current predicament took the word 'discomfort' to a whole new level; their arms and legs were unable to stretch out and already they could feel their feet starting to go numb, being cut off from the blood supply. Merlin managed to stick both his legs outside the net to save some space, given that he was rather tall, but the hole through which they stretched was so tight it wasn't doing much good for his circulation. "What are we going to do?" he said desperately.

"If I could reach my sword, we'd be able to cut the rope!" Arthur replied loudly, a little out of breath. There was a quiet "oomph!" as he shifted.

"Yeah?" Merlin said, his voice slightly muffled due to the fact that one of Arthur's arms was over his face. Arthur moved his arm to his waist where his sword was, bending a knee so he could reach it. This immediately elicited a cry of pain from Merlin as Arthur's boot landed on his stomach. "Ooh," he winced. "Don't put your knee there!"

"Where?" Arthur had grasped the hilt of the sword and tried to unsheathe it, face screwed up in concentration as he pulled with all the force he could muster. The foot on Merlin's stomach pressed down, hard.

"AAARGH!" Merlin yelled in pain, and as he did his body gave a very violent jerk, lifting his entire body off the bottom of the net and landing very roughly and unceremoniously on Arthur's arm, which was coincidentally the one he was using to try and reach his sword.

"AAARGH!" shouted Arthur, punching Merlin with his other arm and making him squeal in pain. He retaliated by punching back, and heard, once again, a loud "AAARGH!" from Arthur as he hit home. There was a scuffle between them as they began to hit each other, both crying out whenever someone threw a well-placed punch. This went back and forth for a while until they remembered what they had originally been doing, but it was too late. There was a clatter as Arthur lost his grip on the hilt.

As if in slow motion, the sword slowly slipped out of a hole in the net and fell to the ground several feet below. There was a loud groan of frustration from Merlin.

"_MERLIN!_" Arthur roared. He now had one arm out of the net, but it was a futile attempt; the two of them were simply too far from the ground to reach the sword and cut themselves free. In his exasperation he swung wildly and hit Merlin on the head. His armour gave a loud _clunk _as he did.

"That was your fault!" shouted Merlin, drawing his knees up in case Arthur attacked him again in his anger, accidentally kicking Arthur in the shins. "That was your fault!" he repeated, as Arthur gave several loud yelps of pain and struggled. The net was swinging from the force of it all, but the branch holding the two men captive was thick and unlikely to break. However, this fact did not seem to deter Arthur, who was now wildly bouncing up and down in his place, attempting to break the thick fibres holding the net together, not caring how he was squashing Merlin with every savage thrust he made. Merlin gasped every time Arthur landed on him, but after about five attempts Arthur had tired himself out.

Breathlessly, Arthur sank back down into the net and started to get his breath back, panting. His breath ruffled Merlin's hair. "Great," he said quietly, his voice cracking. "Just great." They looked downwards and stared at the sword, the key to their escape so close, yet just out of their reach. It lay shining in the moonlight below them; the way it glittered made it look almost as if it was taunting them.

"Where did the other rabbit go?" said Merlin, trying to lighten the mood. Indeed, one of the rabbits seemed to have disappeared; perhaps it had escaped out of the hole the sword fell out of when they weren't looking. The other was snuggled right next to Merlin's face, fluffy enough to keep his cheeks warm, and looked as if it were sleeping. Judging from what they had been doing, however, Merlin came to the conclusion that the rabbit had probably passed out.

It occurred to Merlin that they could be here for the entire night, with nary a kind soul to help them out of their situation. He mentioned this to Arthur, who groaned. "I won't be able to sleep tonight," he said, annoyed. "I need a pillow, blankets and a mattress, not a net cutting into my back."

"We'll have to try and make ourselves comfortable, then," said Merlin.

Arthur laughed hollowly. "Fat chance." There was a silence as they lay there, the net still swinging but gradually losing its momentum.

Merlin broke the silence with a cough. "You're squishing my arm," he complained.

He expected Arthur to tell him he was an idiot, that he was to shut up and deal with it, but was surprised when Arthur mumbled, "Sorry," and shifted so he could pull his arm free. Merlin tried to make himself as small as possible so as to make Arthur more comfortable where he was, curling himself up on his side. His head rested on Arthur's chest. He glanced upwards into Arthur's face for a second, silently asking for permission. Arthur raised his eyebrow, then sighed and nodded at him. "All right, you can rest there," he said. "My armour's heavy enough as it is, so your weight won't make much of a difference." His blue eyes twinkled briefly before he looked away. Merlin sighed and snuggled up to his prince, who instinctively put an arm around him. They fell asleep, arms around each other, without a care for the morrow.

**Author's Note:**

**I remember laughing so hard when I watched 'Arthur's Bane – Part 1', especially when Arthur started bouncing around inside the net. It must have hurt so much for Merlin! (And it also looked incredibly wrong, but never mind about that.)**


End file.
